Camping w/ Dad: Day 1

Just got back from another fun camping trip! My Dad had a few vacation days and decided to fly out from Colorado to do some camping. It was gray and cloudy on the west side of the the Cascades - so we went east for some sun and heat! 

We picked my Dad up from the shuttle around noontime, so we started with lunch, of course, at Que Car BBQ in Marblemount. 

My Dad. He had the smoked beef brisket. 

Oh. My. Goodness. These sandwiches are huge! 1/2 pound of meat! 

Ross & me. 

Ross had the pulled pork BBQ sandwich. 

I had a Chicken teryaki BBQ sandwich - so good it was painful. I am pretty much meated out for a while. Worth it? Yes, though next time I'll get the kids size.

Good thing they gave us these! 

We were so full that I was glad we had a hike planned to walk it off - we headed to the Thunder Knob Trail in the North Cascades National Park Complex. 

View of Diablo Lake from the top. (It's actually a reservoir - don't be fooled!) 

Love the wind blown shot my dad captured! 

Then we finished the scenic drive along Highway 20 - the North Cascades Scenic Highway. 

Washington Pass Area. 

We got to Pearrygin State Park in Winthrop around 7:30pm and we were lucky to get the last campsite!!! Definitely make reservations if you plan on camping here. 

We set up camp and made dinner.

Normally I love Trader Joe's pre-cooked chicken sausages for camping - they are so simple! But I really regret not having a veggie option after the heavy lunch. 

The camp store was closed by the time we realized we wanted to buy firewood - but I found a fellow Western student who had some to spare! It was so nice that other campers were willing to share! 

We enjoyed the fire and stargazed. I even saw a shooting star! There wasn't a cloud in the sky or a marine layer like we tend to get in Bellingham - the stars were wonderfully brilliant and mesmerizing. We were definitely ready to crawl into our sleeping bags after sitting by the fire for a while, and I fell asleep almost immediately. 

Stay tuned for Day 2!